It is difficult to arrive at one fixed number of SKUs that a forecaster can manage, because situations vary from industry to industry and company to company. There are several factors at play. It depends on how easy or difficult it is to forecast, what the lead time is, the cost of forecast error, whether forecasts are prepared on an aggregate or granular level, type of data used, whether ABC classification is used to allocate forecasting time, whether customers’ input are used in reconciling forecasts, and/or the sophistication of technology used to generate forecasts.

Table of contents:

How Easy or Difficult to Forecast

Cost of Forecast Error

Level of Aggregation Required

Type of Data Used

Segmentation / ABC Classification

State of Technology

Survey Results

Conclusion

Table 1 | Number of Skus Per Forecaster by Size of Company

Table 2 | Number of Skus Per Forecaster by Total Number of Skus at the Company

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